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Chevrolet Motorsports - Earnhardt Quotes

Rockingham, NC

DALE EARNHARDT -3- GM Goodwrench Service (1st)

"We came out of Daytona with a second, and I feel good about that. To beat Jarrett today, it feels pretty good again. We had good pit stops all day. Everybody was hollering last year that the #1 pit position gave us this and that. We won from pit position 15 today, so I don't think that had a thing to do with it. The crew did a great job today, and I've got to thank Bobby (Hutchens) and David (Smith) and everybody. It's been a long hard winter, but we're coming out and winning races right off. We're looking toward the big picture all year long.

"The car was a little tight most of the day. At the last of the race, the car got a little better on the bottom. It was a little tight at the bottom early and we were running high. As the day went on, we got better on the bottom and I was going these at the end. We had a good race. Bobby Hamilton and I got together a bit. He corrected and recovered from that pretty easily and nothing major happened there. Later he got in another wreck. His car was running great. The 23 car was pretty strong, too. There were a lot of problems out there today. We had a good car and it stood the pressure all day.

"I'm going to race whoever is there racing. He (Jarrett) looks like he wants to win at this point. Our car was good, but I had to drive hard all day. We need a little more spoiler and a little more valence on the Monte Carlos to make us even with the Fords and Pontiacs and I think we could run even better races.

"Terry Labonte had the strongest car all day, but he had trouble, and the 23 was strong, too. It depended on the right set of tires. I think our car was better on the last couple of runs. We ran our fastest lap of the race on those couple of runs. We may have ended up being the best car on the track, but those other cars weren't around.

I didn't worry about a partner all day long other than me and the team. I was just racing him (Jarrett) and he was pretty good on new tires, but after a lap or two he'd go away. We were patient and got back by him abd went on."

We (Hamilton) just got together and bumped a bit over in turn four. We were coming through the corner and there were some bumps down there. We were bumping along there side by side and we just bumped together. He was lucky. He corrected and saved it. There could have been a serious crash there.

"At that one point, he (Hamilton) was pretty strong. He ran away from us on that one run, but depending on the tires and the run, different cars had been doing that all day. We were getting stronger at the end. I don't know. I would have had to race him and see.

"You'll have to watch the replay. We were racing close. I didn't turn the steering wheel into him. We just bumped. When we got together, I tried to get off of it as quick as he got away from me. Something happened and he recovered from it. That ain't what put him out of the race."